Le cocon familial

Past: January 16 → March 28, 2014

The exhibition titled Le cocon familial allows the public to become acquainted with a slice of contemporary Hungarian photography, not through a theme but via the specificity of the actors in the images: the family members of the photographer. The recurring motif of the exhibition is the amalgamation of reality and fiction, the quest for fantastic realities and real fantasies in the realm of the family, defined by belonging — the most personal relationship of a human being.

On the one hand, this activity is quite ideal as someone has the undoubted right to picture his or her own family; on the other hand, it is as dangerous and risky as obvious: revealing bodies, secrets, private moments, and intimate stories carries as much responsibility as conscious awareness. Balancing between the private and public, these thirteen recognized photographers apply visual symbols that are specifically personal, in parallel with those that are explicit on a broader level. Through the dialogue between the highly diverse approaches of the various series, the show aims to present a synchronized visual world demonstrating how photographers represent, use, conduct, expose, or merely capture the persons closest to them. Therefore, visitors are invited to discover personal narratives and universal patterns throughout this selection of insider views and to set out on the quest to explore how photographers construct their closest reality, or how their closest reality constructs their photographs…? The organizer of the exhibition, the Hungarian House of Photography operates in the heart of Budapest, in a studio house commissioned by the court photographer Manó Mai in 1894.

This eight-story neo-renaissance building stands both as an historic landmark and a truly unique work of architecture that continues to fulfill its original purpose, serving photography. The Mai Manó House, as its friends and admirers call it, is the intellectual and professional center of Hungarian photography. Primarily, it is an exhibition space that aims to introduce out-standing classic and contemporary Hungarian and international photographers. Beyond that, it highlights the professional and social prestige of Hungarian photography by organizing professional events and presenting exhibitions abroad as well. It also promotes artistic, scientific, and cultural development within the profession by operating a blog and maintaining the Pécsi József.